About The Artist - Raphael Sanzio (April 6, 1483 - April 6, 1520)

Raphael Sanzio or Raffaello, an Italian master painter and architect of the High Renaissance period is known for the perfection and grace of his works.

About The Painting - The Triumph of Galatea

Raphael was a celebrated painter of the High Renaissance period. One his most famous works, The Triumph of Galatea is a fresco completed in the year 1512. This fresco was painted for the Villa Farnesina in Rome.

The villa was built by Agostino Chigi, a Sienese banker and one of the richest men in those times. The Triumph of Galatea is a part of the mythological scenes that are part of an open gallery in the building. Unfortunately, this series was never completed by Raphael. Inspired by the Greek myth, Nereid Galatea fell in love with the peasant shepherd Acis but her consort, Polyphemus, a one-eyed giant after catching the two lovers in an embrace, threw a huge pillar and killed Acis in rage.

Though, Raphael didn't paint any of the important events of this mythological story, his The Triumph of Galatea is a scene where sea creatures are shown in bright colors and decorations which are inspired by ancient Roman paintings. The forms of the sea creatures are also supposed to be inspired by Michelangelo. At the left of this illustration is a sturdy Triton (part man, part fish) who abducts a sea nymph, while another Triton is playing the shell as a trumpet. Galatea is shown riding a shell-coach that is drawn by two dolphins.

Raphael's Galatea is not a human but an ideal beauty and perhaps that's why he showed her gazing up to the heaven in the direction is a little cherubic Cupid who has a quiver full of arrows. The Triumph of Galatea reminds us of Botticelli's 1483 masterpiece, The Birth of Venus.

A vision of beauty, perfection, and grace, Raphael's The Triumph of Galatea is a woman who swivels forward, pushed on by two gallivanting dolphins and accompanied by a lively crowd of Nereids and mermen.